Baptism
by Skiagrapher
Summary: Maybe if she forgave him his mistakes would be washed away, fresh baptism. "I'm doing what I can do." Zuko, Katara, and why Zuko brings her on that trip. A moment from The Southern Raiders we didn't see. Genfic, Zuko/Katara if you've got those goggles on.


_Author's Note: Written because, as awesome as this episode was in many respects, Zuko's tacit approval of Katara's vengeance kind of bothered me. It's so out of character for him to agree to a revenge killing. So I wrote something that explained it. It takes place after they've found the fleet and before they go after Yan Ra._

_I guess it might be Zutara, if you squint._

_I don't own Avatar or these characters._

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**Baptism**

"Why are you doing this?" Katara's voice came across the camp as they were setting up for the night.

Zuko glanced up from where he was placing the wood he'd gathered into a cone for the fire. Her back was turned to him, setting up the tarp over her tent. "What do you mean?" he asked.

Katara finished and turned to face him, hands on her hips and her body leaned forward towards him, indictment written into the tense, curved lines of her body. "Why are you helping me?"

Zuko was a little bewildered. He began placing stones around the shape he'd made but he didn't take his attention away from her. "I'm trying to make up my mistakes to you," he said.

"And you think this is going to do it?" she asked, disparagingly, shifting her weight back into her hips and folding her arms over her chest. Her eyes were narrowed at him, and in the dim light he remembered another time she'd looked like this, tense and accusing and wholly untrusting, the two of them alone in failing light. He flinched a little, and was reminded why every moment they spent together was so important. He _would_ make this right.

"It's what I can do," he told her, quietly. Then he blew a thin stream of fire at the pit he'd made and the wood roared to life, glowing and spitting.

Maybe it was the new light, but her face seemed less harsh, softer. And maybe it was taking advantage, but he saw an opening and he had to take it, because if the good people he'd wronged forgave him, maybe he wasn't as much of a failure as he thought he was. Maybe if she forgave him his mistakes could be washed away, fresh baptism.

"If I could re-conquer Ba Sing Se on my own, I would," he told her, earnestly, pressing his new ground, hoping against hope he could break through to her. "If I could bring your mother back to life, believe me, I would. But I can't do those things. So I'm doing what I can do."

Time seemed to suspend as Katara looked at him and Zuko didn't move, not daring to speak lest he ruined whatever progress he'd made (he was good at that). But something told him he'd done something right, for a change, because she was looking at him like she didn't know what to make of him, and he remembered this expression, too. This time, though, he wouldn't screw it up. If she ever gave him her trust again, he'd never betray it.

Finally Katara broke eye contact and, to Zuko's shock, moved around the fire to sit at his side—not too close, but she didn't make a point of sitting as far from him as she could. She curled her knees up under her chin and wrapped her arms around them, staring into the fire. Zuko was tense, legs folded before him and his back perfectly straight, and he scarcely dared to breathe wrong, much less move. The moment felt like blown glass.

She finally looked at him, out of the corner of her eyes. "You know I plan on killing him, right?"

He was a little surprised she'd said it out loud. "Yes," he said.

"And you're okay with that?" There was no venom in her tone, merely a flat kind of curiosity.

"No," he told her.

At that she picked up her head, turning it to fully face him. Her brows were drawn together in confusion. "Then why are you doing this?" she asked him.

He relaxed his back a little. "Because I don't think you will," he said simply.

Her lips set into a frown. "How do you know that?" she asked, and her tone was harsh again.

He shrugged. "I don't, I guess." He turned to face her and met her eyes. "But you did offer to heal my scar, once."

Her eyes widened, and she stared at him, incredulity and something else he couldn't quite place written all over her. It wasn't a good look, at any rate. Zuko could have _kicked_ himself. How _stupid_ was he to bring up Ba Sing Se again? Finally, she turned away and stood up. Stupid, stupid, _stupid._

But acid didn't fall from her lips. "I'll get the food," was all she said.

It was so unexpected that it took Zuko a moment to remember his manners. "Do you want help?"

"No," she said. She turned to him and gave him a small smile. "Thanks."

Zuko sat stunned as she moved out of his sight, then relaxed his shoulders and breathed a sigh of relief, her offering reflected on his face.

He'd take whatever little victories he could get.


End file.
